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drill rates for food plot seeds
- Thread starter WKyGasDoc
- Start date
DavidHunter2001
5 year old buck +
Green cover lists many of them. You can also use their mix tool and it will get rates for mixes (may go heavier than they suggest as this is set up for Farmers not deer hunting)
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
There may be differences between drills, but here is how I calibrate mine:
I decide how much of each component seed per acre I want and then mix the seeds together. The seed metering system on my Kasco Versa drill will take about any mix. I then plug all of the holes in my seed bin except one. I disconnect the seed tube from the planting shoe on the row that is unplugged. I then zip tie a baggie to the end of the seed tube. I drive a know distance as though I was planting. I then weigh the seed in the baggie.
If you know how far you drove, and how wide your drill is, you can calculate what percentage of an acre the drill covered. You also know how many rows your drill has, so if you multiply the weight of he seed by the number of rows, you know how much of that mix your drill puts out when covering that percentage of an acre. You can then calculate how many pounds of mix it will put out per acre.
I then adjust the opening and repeat the process until I get the rate I want.
Thanks,
Jack
WKyGasDoc
5 year old buck +
Thank you Sir, that is a similar method my instructions list for my land pride 3p606NT. I understand how to calibrate but creating the mix and then which seed bin I use was one of the issues I was unsure of. I think I will select my target mix by large or small seed size and calibrate the corresponding bin and keep notes. Thank you for your response I hope to try again next month.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
No problem. Other folks with the Land Pride can probably help better with drill specifics. I know with some drills you can use both seed boxes at once. This would be for doing something like drilling cereal which has a high seeding rate and clover, a low seed rate in a single pass.
You can take a look at some of the BOB seed mixes to get an idea. Companies that sell the mixes will often suggest both broadcast and drill rates. If you are using a drill, you are likely planting enough acreage that you don't want to pay the BOB seed premium. Just take a look at their seed tags. It will list what seeds are in the mix. You can then go to the local coop and buy the component seed in 50 lb bags and mix yourself. Don't get hung up on the specific varieties in the BOB seed. There are a few cases where variety makes a difference but in most cases it really doesn't. It also takes some trial and error to see what works best in your soils and climate.
Bill
Administrator
Oh I see from your other post it’s a landpride. AKA orange Great Plains drill. So there is a calibration hex bar on the front of the left side of the drill. I think it takes a 3/4 or 15/16 in socket. I use a breaker bar. 995 turns equals 1 acre. Block off all but 3 seed tubes and put seed in. Then put containers under each of the three tubes and get to cranking. I don’t crank 995 turns. Close to 1000/10=100 turns. Weigh what you catch on a digital kitchen scale and do the math.
Lbs of seed / 3 = X.
X x 10 = the weight of seed @1000 cranks.
the weight of the seed x 9 seed tubes = lbs/acre.
adjust up or down from there until you get the lbs/acre your looking for.
I use the small seed box for clover and brassicas. Big box for grain or I just broadcast grains.
